Television

Television is one of the most important ways of communication that there are currently. The Television sometimes is considered a part of some cultures, because it exists in all or almost all houses in the world.

It has a lot of advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that we receive a lot of information about important things, such as traffic, healthy, and news. Another advantage is the number of people involved in all the world. It gives opportunities and jobs for people with different ages and experiences.

However, I think that the television isn’t a good way of communication. The families lose a lot of time watching TV and old traditions like to have dinner or lunch in a table no happen more. And the children pass a long time in front of a TV. It make they lose their imagination and they stop playing and met other children. When I was child, I watched TV just 1 or 2 hours per day and the remaining time I was always playing alone or with my friends. I have a sister, she is 9 years old, but she spends a long time in front of a TV or a computer. So, she doesn’t have more imagination and is very lazy and slow. And more, she gained more weight than the normal.

Thus, I think that the problem isn’t the TV. The problem is the people. They need to have control over themselves and their children.

The Best Decision

I have 20 years of age and in this time I have made some decisions in my life. What major I want to do; where I want to study and others examples. My best decision I made when I choose to come to the United States. This decision was very important because was very difficult. When I came to here would miss only semester to graduate and I was afraid to delay my graduation more. Furthermore, I left my family in Brazil and it is so far from here and I don’t have conditions to bring them to visit me or to visit the U.S and meet this beautiful country. So, to come to the United States is my best decision in my life. All knowledge and experience that I will get in this one year and 4 months I will pass here will be very valuable when I return to Brazil. I want to share my knowledge in my university.

Brazilian big tests

Brazil have a lot of big tests, but it happened a 5 years ago. Today, if you want to enter in a public university, you must take a big test called ENEM. This is a big test that all the country can do. There are two days of test, on a Saturday and Sunday. It has 180 questions and you do 90 questions in each day. The first day you have 4 hours and 30 minutes and in the second day, you have 5 hours and 30 minutes. The second day have more time because in these day we need do write an essay. For ENEM, all that you need do is study a lot. The TEST is long and you have one year to prepare yourself. You need study History, Mathematics, Portuguese, and the other base subjects. Other big test, that happen every time, is the public tender. This test is different and the number of questions never is the same. We do this test if we want to get a job in the government, such as teacher, police, and a bank. This is a very difficult test. Some people pass 5 hours of the day studying to the test.

TOEFL and IETLS

       A lot of people needs do the TOEFL test every year. Big part of them get good scores, but the another part sometimes don’t get. Then, it is very important to study to the test. You need improve your skills in Listen, Read, Grammar and Write. Some people gave a lot of tips of how to do the TOEFL test, such as never lost time with questions that you don’t know the answer because this will spend a lot of time and you can lost other easy questions. Another good tip is when you are in the section of reading, you can do the questions of scanning first, after that, you can do the questions that you need read the text. I am mainly study grammar and write because I am not so good in this part. I am always listen music and try talk with other people to improve my skills in pronunciation and listening.

Problems in my country (Imcomplete)

In my country we have a lot of problems that needs attention. We have social problems, educational problems, structural problems, and problems with violence. Then, to solve this problems is a hard task that needs a lot of years and is impossible to solve just one problem. It is necessary solve all the problems because it is connected. But, I think that the main problem in Brazil now is violence. To stop the violence is necessary to give education for the population, but this can delay a long time. We need work with real possibilities.

The first way is changing the law. The Brazilian constitution was made in 1986 and had several changes and/or additions. The part that treat the violence has a big problem. There is a law that holds an outlaw, but there are two others that give him freedom. Thus, I think that we need create series of more efficient laws. This action needs can be do in a short time.

The second way is improving the judicial system. Many lawsuits come to take 10, 20, or 30 years to be judged. While this happens, the accused spend their lives in freedom without pay for the crime he committed while many innocents being held there why not even tried the case to give him freedom.

Styles of Music

There are many kinds of music, such as Rock, Electronic, and Pop. Thus, there are three different ways to identify the genre/style of music.

The first way is to feel the beat of the music. All music has its own beat. For example, the beat in Rock music can come from many instruments and be slow or the beat can come from just an acoustic guitar and be fast. For another side, Electronic music can be very fast and doesn’t have anyone singing.

The second way is to identify and understand the lyrics of the music. The music always says something to the person who is listening. However, some music doesn’t have lyrics or anyone singing. It is called instrumental music. It can be happy, sad, or melancholy. For example, in Brazil there are two styles of music that use a lot of rhymes, Rap and Funk. It is possible to identify Rap because the lyrics often talk about problems in society, or about dreams or problems of musicians. Funk often talks about sexual languages or about money.

Finally, identifying the genre/style of music can be a difficult task. In the world, there are more than 300 kinds of genres and styles. Thus, before do it, you can look in the Internet to learn the characteristics of the main styles of music.

Different Lifestyles

I am from Brazil, and it is famous for your beauty and people. But, in Brazil many things are different from other countries like the lifestyle and foods. Our lifestyle is famous sometimes for the procrastination. In part, this is true. Part of Brazilian people always are late or let it to do their tasks at the last minute. Sometimes, I was like that, lazy and late. In United States, I am not more like that. I am always in the right time. In my university, I had a lot of homework and tasks to do, and I had classes everyday and all the day, morning, afternoon, and night. So, sometimes was difficult for me to do all the homework and many times I didn't do all of them. Here, I always do my homework on the right time and always show in the classes. In Brazil, it is common have the dinner at 8 p.m., but here is different, we have the dinner 5 p.m. When I arrived in U.S., I thought that weird, but after, I got used. It is very dangerous going out with friends in the night in Brazil, because we have bad peoples that know how stolen us. Here, I feel safer, because it have a lot of police officers and ways to help you.

My Country

       Brazil is a wonderful country. It is famous for the natural beauties and culture. Brazil has

26 states and 5 regions. Each state has its particular characteristic. For example, my state, Ceara,

is famous for many kinds of food and the weather. My region, Northeast, is famous because the

weather and a part of the culture are similar. Brazil has one of the Seven Wonders of the World,

the Cristo Redentor. But, my country have a lot of problems. Big part of them is the violence.

We are one the most violent countries in the world, and we have many problem with corruption.

Another big problem is our transportation. We have roads, of course, but they are deteriorated

and many problems of signalization. The public transport is bad and many people depends of it.

In the big cities, we have more car than streets, so we have a lot of traffic jams.

About food, our food have one thing that is different for many kinds of food in other

countries. We always use seasoning in our foods. We are famous for our barbecue, because we

love this kind of food and it is available in all the country. My state has kinds of foods too, for

example: Carne de Sol (A kind of meat made with salt), Caju (a kind of fruit) and Rapadura

(a kind of candy). Although our problems with the lack of rain and water shortage, we love

juices and we produce many fruits in our lands. Other state, Rio Grande do Sul (Great River

of the South), is famous for its barbecues and local culture. They love horses and many kinds

of traditional drinks. The most famous is Chimarrao. In Minas Gerais, we have the Pão de 

Queijo (cheese bread). In Amazonas we have a lot of kinds of fish. In Bahia, the famous food 

is Acaraje. It is a dish made from peeled black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried

in dendê (palm oil).

Brazilians loves spend time and money shopping. We have many facilities to buy things.

If you won a million dollars, what would you do?

The first thing that I want to do is to pay my debt with my government and the institution in USA, because they provide my study here and I know that it is a lot of money. Second, I want to bring my family to U.S. They are so important for me and I think that is better for them to live here. If it isn't possible, I want to sent money for them in Brazil (a part of the money of course). After that, I want to buy a car, a special car, a Dodge Charger R/T 1970. This car isn't famous or a big car like Ferrari or Bugatti, but I think that it is simple like me. Maybe, I can travel around the world and to discover more about the culture of other countries and the countries of my friends that i met in this class, like Japan and Taiwan. I want to help poor people or/and the people with diseases, because they sometimes don't have money to treat it. So, I think that a million dollars can be a lot of money for me.